(Author's note: This story and the following ones are based in actual role-play. As my memory is not all that good when it comes to details, I have taken a lot of artistic liberties when describing the events and discussions that have taken place to fill in the memory gaps. If the players behind Ranesora or Aaverie feel I have presented their characters in a way they disagree with, either in thought or action, please let me know and I will edit the parts afterwards.)
The rain soon stopped and clouds shifted to make way to the scorching sun overhead. Hellrien had decided to stay in the camp until the worst heat of the day would subside. Candaith went to sleep in his tent, while Hellrien sat on a stone nearby, smoking her pipe continuously while keeping watch. She pondered about what to do in the future - continue towards east following the mountain range or circle around Weathertop, then head south to the Great East Road again? Both options were dangerous. For one - how would she find a route around all the orcs and goblins that swarmed these lands? And how far would she have to ride to be safe from potential shadows from the Forsaken Inn?
None of the alternatives felt good to her. She started thinking about the task at hand instead. How would she even find the artefacts? What did they look like? Well, she reminded herself, maybe Burwod would know. After all, she was supposed to wait for him in Ost Guruth. Let him do the thinking.
Hellrien glanced at Candaith. He was awake now and looking at her from behind his tent flap.
”How are you holding up?” he asked.
Hellrien stood up. ”Fine, thanks for asking.”
Candaith told her he had to go scouting and maybe hunting for dinner, if he got lucky. Hellrien stayed in the campsite. A couple of hours passed by in silence.
What happened next, happened so fast Hellrien had barely time to react to it at all. First she heard fierce thumping of hooves from behind her, like a rumbling thunder. She jumped up, turned around and leaped to the ground, grasping for her bow.
In a cloud of dust, a rider on an armored horse, followed by a mob of goblins. Half a dozen of them, maybe more. By the time Hellrien had loaded her bow, the rider had already dropped three with lightning fast marksmanship with his bow. He leaped off his horse and had already drawn his sword before his feet touched the ground. Moving like a tornado, the goblins kept dropping one by one, while Hellrien had trouble even finding a target. They all died before she had time to aim. She wasn't even sure if she sould help out this lethal horseman in the first place.
If that's a bad guy, she thought, I'm in a world of trouble. And yet - there was something very familiar about those movements, that technique, she had been taught to do exactly that by...
”Ranesora?” Hellrien asked in disbelief as the last of the goblins fell down, it's head rolling down the slope until it hit a rock where it stopped, perpetually grimacing at the sky above. The man turned around and started striding towards her with hasty strides she knew all too well.
”What are you doing here?” Ranesora demanded. ”Weren't you supposed to get the artefacts?”
”Well, umm, yeah”, Hellrien stammered. ”I mean, sir, Burwod told me to go to Ost Guruth and await for him there, because he had some urgent business to take care of in Bree. And that's where I was going, but... uh... there were some... complications... in the Forsaken Inn and...”
”Theawynn is dead”, Ranesore interrupted her. ”Assassins got her three days ago, in the border of Bree-land and Lone-lands. I've been trying to track you down ever since I heard the news. You are not safe. Somebody does not want for us to succeed in this mission.”
That silenced Hellrien. She didn't know what to say. ”Theawynn... dead? That's... I'm so sorry.”
She had not spent enough time with Theawynn to really get to know her, but she had liked her. Suddenly she realized that she would likely have to go through things like this often. She would lose many friends. Maybe for the first time she felt the whole weight of what being in the Sworn Brotherhood really meant. It was not a game, or a fun adventure. She would lose friends, and her own life-expectancy would be very short as well. Such were the times they lived in.
If Theawynn's death had touched Ranesora in any way, it didn't show in his steely gaze nor in his grating voice as he said: ”We have lost a valuable asset and a devoted member of the Brotherhood. Has anyone attempted to attack you, or have you noticed anyone following you?”
”Apart from those two cutthroats in the Forsaken Inn, no, sir.”
”Explain.”
”They came in the night to my room. To cut my throat and rob my things, or so I thought.”
”Where are they now?”
”Dead, sir. I done them in good and proper, just like you taught me, sir. But I had to flee from the inn. I figured maybe the robbers were friends with the proprietor or something. Anyway, I didn't want to stay and find out. That's why I came here, to loose the tails.”
Ranesora didn't appear impressed by Hellrien's heroics. He shook his head. ”You are lucky to be alive. You took a room in the Forsaken Inn? A room to sleep in that death trap? Why didn't you chain and gag yourself while at it, to make it even easier for them to kill you?”
Hellrien didn't know how to answer that, and Ranesora didn't seem to expect a response either. He said: ”It's even more important now to bring this mission into completion. We must waste no time. Get your horse now. We will travel by day and night. No rest and no food, unless I say so. We will reach Ost Guruth by dawn tomorrow. Are you good to ride now?”
”Yes...”
”Get on your horse then!”
Ranesora rode ahead slowly, keeping a keen eye to the terrain. He moved ahead so that they didn't cast long shadows. After dark he lead them on top of a high ridge, where they stopped for a moment. Before them opened a view to ruins of some ancient fortress.
"What is that ruin, I wonder?" Hellrien asked.
"It used to be a great Dúnedain keep", Ranesora said, with a surprisingly heavy dose of nostalgy in his voice. "Now it's a home for half-orc pests."
They kept looking at the view for a few more minutes. ”Break's over”, Ranesora announced after a while. ”We walk our horses from here.”
Hellrien followed Ranesora's example. It was important not to exert their horses too much, and the terrain was difficult for riding too, especially in the dark. The scorching heat of day turned into a chillingly cold night in an instant. The horizon was blocked by twisting wold in every direction.
They walked the whole night. Sometimes they talked a little, mainly Ranesora making specific questions about the details of what had happened since she and Burwod had left the stronghold.
Carefully they made way towards Ost Guruth in the darkness, mile after mile. Now and then a ray of moonlight hit the ground from between the drifting clouds. Those short moments were enough for Hellrien to look over their direction. By her estimation Ost Guruth was maybe ten, fifteen miles to the east still.
Ranesora stopped so suddenly Hellrien almost walked her horse over him. She stopped too, wondering what her mentor had seen, heard or maybe sensed, because she had not seen anything. Ranesora tilted his head to the side, as if he was listening to something. He also sniffed the air. Hellrien heard that quite clearly.
”You!” Ranesora grumbled. ”Skin-changer! Come forward.”
The woman stepped into their view from the darkness so quietly that Hellrien almost jumped. She had somewhat exotic, chiseled features, she was clad in a black dress and carried an enormous wooden club. She was a beauty, but there was also something unnerving about her; something wild and dangerous. What kind of a woman would wander all alone here in the wilderness anyhow?
But it was evident Ranesora and the woman knew each other, and by the looks of it they weren't too fond of each other either.
”Old man!” the woman said contemptuously. ”Who is your young girlfriend? You know you're old enough to be her father... or grandfather!”
”Shut your mouth, bear!” Ranesora sneered. Hellrien lifted an eyebrow. Bear? That was a creative insult, even for Ranesora. She bowed to the strange lady and introduced herself:
”I am Hellrien, of Gondor. Well, originally from there, anyway. Nowadays I reside in the Thorin's Gate, mostly.”
The woman turned to look at Hellrien. Her tone was considerably friendlier when she said: ”You're Hellrien? I have heard of you.”
”You have?” Hellrien gasped. She had no idea she was so famous already that people outside of her small circle had heard about her. ”Nothing bad, I h...”
”Cut the chit-chat!” Ranesora snapped. ”We're in a hurry. We have an important mission to carry out for the Brotherhood. Off you go, bear. Go find berries to eat or something.”
”I'm coming with you”, the woman decided.
”No you're not”, Ranesora countered. ”I don't want to smell your musk-scent any more I already have. It upsets my stomach.”
A glint of fiersome fury flashed in the woman's eyes, and Hellrien wished Ranesora would shut his mouth already. Diplomacy was not his strong suit. What happened next made Hellrien fall flat on her bottom. The woman turned into a huge bear, right there in front of their eyes! The transition was so fast it was almost instantaneous, and Hellrien was scrambling towards her weapons. Half Pint neighed in panic. But Ranesora was not impressed. He snarled contemptuously:
”Aaverie is a skin-changer, a Beorning. They turn into bears when they get angry. Quit your tantrum, woman. And you, Hellrien, get off your lazy butt and calm your horse. We continue on horseback from here. We're almost there.”
Ranesora hopped on his mount and charged it forward, seemingly indifferent if Hellrien was coming or not. She scrambled up and jumped on the saddle, trying her best not to lose sight of him. But as she turned to look back she saw Aaverie following behind, now in her human form again and riding a horse. Ranesora must have been aware of it too, but it seemed he didn't care one way or the other.
They advanced east at trotting speed. It was starting to dawn in the horizon, and the moon was growing paler along with it. Ranesora slowed down and turned more observant. In the strange half-glowing light Hellrien could see a great highland maybe two, three miles ahead. Far in the middle, a stretch towards east, she could see some glimmering lights. There was a city there. Was it Ost Guruth? As far as Hellrien knew there were no other settlements nearby.
They approached the lights. The highland was growing stiff grass and shrub islets here and there.
They stopped their horses on a low knoll. Sun was rising crimson red over the Lone-lands. There was no mistaking about the ruinous, dilapidated stone walls and fortifications of the city anymore. It was Ost Guruth. They had made it through this part of the journey.
They rode slowly towards the city. The morning sun was warming their faces pleasantly and colored every knoll, ridge and hill in shades of yellow and orange.
A stairway of stone was resting against the slope. Thin plumes of smoke penetrated through fresh morning air. When they arrived at the root of the stairs, a rooster crowed somewhere.
Hellrien followed Ranesora and Aaverie up the stairs and into the sad, broken and severely damaged keep. They rode through the gates, down another stairway and along the streets filled with beggars, vendors and tents until they arrived in the town square. Ranesora dismounted, and Aaverie and Hellrien followed his example.
”Wait for me here. I will go fetch provisions for the journey. Then we will carry on. Straight away. We will leave our horses here. Where we are going, no horse will survive. Pick up your weapons and whatever else you think is absolutely necessary before I return. Remember to keep it light.”
”Is it a long way?” Hellrien ventured to inquire.
”It depends on how you see the land”, Ranesora blurted complacently. ”For me it's just a short walk.” Then he was off, leaving Hellrien and Aaverie to it. Aaverie looked after him and puffed air through her nostrils, irritated.
”How do you know this buffoon anyhow?” she asked Hellrien, looking like she could turn into a bear again at any moment.
”Well, he's my trainer and vanguard in the stronghold. He has taught me everything I know. About fighting and weapons, that is”, she added quickly, seeing as Aaverie's phyz was getting gloomier by the second. Hellrien smiled disarmingly, trying to clear the air. ”I haven't yet contracted all of his bad manners.”
Aaverie grinned and relaxed, so it seemed. Then there was an awkward moment of silence, when neither woman could come up with anything to say, but it was soon disturbed by Ranesora's inexhaustibly toxic presence as he returned. He tossed three sacks in front of them.
”Bonding time's over”, he announced. ”We go now. The bear carries the sacks to make herself useful.”
”I'm not carrying anything, old man!” Aaverie snapped. ”What's the matter - you're getting feeble in your old age? That is, more feeble than you already were in your prime?”
Hellrien sighed. ”I guess it's me then”, she said resignedly, bending over to pick up the sacks. Ranesora just shrugged, completely indifferent, turned around and started walking towards a staircase in the wall. Aaverie snatched the bags from Hellrien, kept two of them and threw one at Ranesora's feet.
”You carry that, old man!” she yelled. But Ranesora calmly stepped over the sack and kept walking. Hellrien picked up the last sack, shaking her head. Sheesh, they're worse than a married couple, she thought, wondering about the history between these two.
